THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI
(SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU)
(a) Water resources projects are planned, funded, executed, and maintained by the State Governments themselves as per their own resources and priorities. Role of Government of India is limited to providing technical support and, in some cases, partial financial assistance under the existing schemes implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
In order to supplement the efforts of the State Governments, Government of India has taken many important initiatives for widespread promotion of technological advancements in irrigation. Use of remote sensing for monitoring of projects including ground water table estimation & cropped area assessment, SCADA based systems for irrigation, micro irrigation, underground pipelines for distribution, precision-irrigation, use of technology in watershed and springshed development for integrated development of rainfed areas through soil & water conservation including regeneration of ground water & arresting runoff, and use of solar pumps for ground water based irrigation in favorable regions, are some such measures through which technology is being promoted in irrigation by Government of India.
(b) & (c) As per the data for 2018-19 provided by Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, percentage of net un-irrigated area over net area sown in the country is estimated to be about 48.65%. Further, it is estimated that 40% of the net sown area is expected to remain rainfed even after attainment of full irrigation potential of the country. Augmentation of irrigation is to be taken up by State Governments as per availability of resources and priorities. Government of India provides catalytic, technical and financial support to the State Governments, for the same.
(d) & (e) In order to supplement the efforts of the State Governments, Government of India has taken many important initiatives for irrigation and water conservation, the key amongst which are given below :
1. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched during the year 2015-16, with an aim to enhance physical access of water on farm and expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency, introduce sustainable water conservation practices, etc.
PMKSY is an umbrella scheme, consisting of two major components implemented by this Ministry, namely, Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP), and Har Khet Ko Pani (HKKP). HKKP, in turn, consists of four sub-components, being Command Area Development & Water Management (CAD&WM), Surface Minor Irrigation (SMI), Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies, and Ground Water (GW) Development component.
In addition, PMKSY also consists of two components being implemented by Ministries other than Jal Shakti Ministry. Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) component is being implemented by Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, while Watershed Development component (WDC) is being implemented by Department of Land Resources.
Achievement made during last three years (2018-2021) in different components of PMKSY, are tabulated below.
Sl. No. Scheme Achievements made in last 3 years (2018-2021)
1. AIBP with pari-passu implementation of CADWM Creation of 10.575 lakh hectare irrigation potential. 15 projects have been reported as completed during this period.
2. SMI An irrigation potential of about 0.95 lakh hectare is reported to be created.
3. RRR A potential of 0.42 lakh hectare has been created.
4. GW An additional area of 35.44 thousand hectare has been brought under irrigation through ground water.
5. PDMC 32.68 lakh hectare has been covered under micro irrigation
6. WDC 1.49 lakh hectare has been brought under plantation, and 3.28 lakh hectare wasteland has been made culturable.
2. In 2019, Jal Shakti Abhiyan was launched by the Government of India. This was followed in 2021, by “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain” (JSA:CTR) campaign. Focused interventions under these annual campaigns taken up by the Government of India and the State Governments, inter-alia, include renovation of traditional and other water bodies/ tanks, enumeration, geo-tagging and making inventory of all water bodies, and removal of encroachments of tanks/lakes, and de-silting of tanks.
Since its launch till date, under JSA:CTR about 10.64 lakh water conservation and rain water structures have been completed, 1.79 lakh number of traditional water bodies have been renovated, 5.13 lakh reuse and recharge structures have been completed, and 15.32 lakh water bodies have been enumerated.
3. Government of India has launched the first Census of water bodies in convergence with the Sixth round of Minor Irrigation Census (reference year 2017-18), under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme – “Irrigation Census”. The objective of the Census of Water bodies is to develop a national database for all water bodies in the country.
4. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) has provisions for public works relating to natural resource management, water conservation and water harvesting structures to augment and improve ground water like underground dykes, earthen dams, stop dams, check dams and roof top rain water harvesting structures in public buildings.
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